Discusses television technology and its effectiveness in educational settings. Highlights include beliefs about television; beliefs about television in education, including interactive and noninteractive viewing; the role of teachers and differences in learning; beliefs about television in distance education; and the VideoClass System developed at…

Notes that Halford's book does not really address children's own understanding but rather the psychologist's attempt to understand children from the outside. Discusses the five major sets of ideas at the core of Halford's explanations of capacity, complexity/dimensionality, development, and learning. Examines two arguments against Halford's…

Comments on Gauvain's discussion, in this issue, of the development of thinking from a sociocultural perspective, expanding her analysis by comparing research on apes who have developed in natural habitats with apes raised by humans in something resembling a human culture. Argues that the study of nonhuman primates can contribute to the emerging…

Presents steps taken in planning, implementing, and evaluating a descriptive study that compares student approaches to learning in two settings: (1) a traditional university class with face-to-face instruction; and (2) a distance education course. A discussion and figures analyze student responses to questionnaires and interviews concerning…

Presents the view that "developmental research" is needed in which small-scale curriculum development is cyclically coupled to in-depth classroom research of teaching-learning processes. Such "didactical" research methodology should result in worked-out examples of successful ways of teaching, according to new conceptual…

Cultures have distinctive learning style patterns, but the great variation among individuals within groups requires educators to use diverse teaching strategies. Researchers identify three kinds of information about culture and learning styles: observation-based descriptions of cultural groups of learners, data-based descriptions of specific…

Reviews literature on developmental students' negative attitudes toward mathematics and themselves. Describes a model for math tutoring emphasizing the reduction of math anxiety and development of capacities for independent learning through dialogue, analysis of error, response to affective needs, reeducation about the learning process, and…

Discusses computational studies of learning in artificial neural networks and findings that may provide insights into the learning abilities of the human brain. Describes efforts to test theories about brain information processing, using artificial neural networks. Vignettes include information concerning how a neural network represents…

Proposes an instructional transaction class hierarchy and describes capability, knowledge, interactions, and associated transactions for three classes of transactions: (1) component transactions (identify, execute, and interpret); (2) abstraction transactions (judge, classify, decide, generalize, and transfer); and (3) association transactions…

Authors describe some alternative conceptions held by Portuguese physics students about mechanics and compare students' scientific conceptions with the evolution of historical ideas. Authors contend that teacher knowledge about the history of science can facilitate teaching for conceptual change in physics. (over 20 references) (Authors/PR)

Describes inexpensive science materials for doing science activities using the steps in the learning cycle: engage, explore, explain, extend, and evaluate. The hands-on activities help students construct knowledge of dissolving and filtering, chemical reactions, conductivity of metals, heat absorption, motion (frictionless puck), sound production…

Explores the assumption that writing is a way to learn by examining the influence of task interpretation on writing and studying as learning aids. Finds that task interpretation and the nature of the material to be learned are important mediating variables in the relationship between writing and learning. (PRA)

The idea of potential and usable processing space is explored, and consequent teaching strategies are discussed. Simultaneous studies of the effect of working memory space and field-dependence on science performance at secondary and tertiary levels are reviewed. How students filter out "signal" from "noise" during various…

The ability to recognize and recall details about objects helps scientists figure out the answers to problems. Observational skills can be developed by sketching objects in detail. Rapid drawing can improve students' sense of important features and rapid memorization of clues about an object. (JDD)

Uses contingency theory to examine workplace conditions making high school teaching nonroutine; investigate whether organic management forms arise when teachers' work becomes nonroutine; and investigate whether such management forms have potential for enhancing teacher effectiveness by promoting job-related learning. There is little evidence that…